05 January,2011 06:57 AM IST | | Vivek Sabnis
Main building of civic body in Shivajinagar came up in 1950s on land reserved for ground and weekly market, reveal papers obtained by RTI activist
It is shocking but true. The civic body, which makes rules for everybody in the city, violated its own rules against encroachment by constructing its main building on plots reserved for a playground and a market 50 years ago, show old documents.
The main building of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in Shivajinagar was set up in 1958, said RTI activist S J Kulkarni, who obtained the documents that reveal the violation.
The PMC main building project was taken up in 1950 and the work started in 1957-58. The design of the building, which was made by noted builder B G Shirke, had been approved in the General Body meeting.
Kulkarni said that the erstwhile Pune Municipal Council had reserved the land for a playground and the Juna Bazar, a weekly market. The decision was taken in accordance with the then town planning rules.
"In spite of the decision to not use the land for any other purpose, the PMC main building construction began in 1956 and it came to be occupied from 1960," Kulkarni said. "The reservation decision was made on January 17, 1931. The old papers clearly indicate that the land was meant for a weekly cattle market."
Referring to the papers he obtained using an RTI application, Kulkarni said that the land on which the building stands occupies six acres and 11.7 gunthe. If there are no other facts to contradict the findings from the papers obtained by Kulkarni, it means the PMC headquarters was born by breaking rules.
"The tradition of violating its own rules is old in the PMC," Kulkarni said. "Even as the present state government policy is to create new playgrounds, it is sad to know that this happened at the very beginning. The 50-year-old PMC has violated rules from the days of its inception."
Dr M P Mangudkar, PMC history writer, said that two places had been recommended for the construction of the main building. One was the place in Shivajinagar where the main building eventually came up and the second was on Ghole Road, where the Deccan Gymkhana PMC ward office is located.
"The decision was taken by the then ruling party mayor Bhausaheb Shirole of the Communist party in the face of opposition from Ganpatrao Nalavde of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1957," Mangudkar said. "It is true that the land was empty and under use as a playground."
